Buck Rogers awoke to a dream.
Everything was bright, but it didn't hurt his eyes… it was almost as if the room he found himself in was made entirely of light.
"Welcome back, Captain Rogers?" The friendly sounding voice sounded like it came from everywhere.
"Have I been here before?"
"Not that you would remember."
"This is a strange dream."
"Are you certain your dreaming?" This British accented voice wasn't disembodied, it came from a solid looking man suddenly standing right beside him, wearing a white suit, which made his black hair stand out even more. "You were here before… we kept you safe during your long… nap."
"Uh… right… and just who are you guys supposed to be?"
"We are advanced beings, who were once very much like yourself," the disembodied voice said.
Buck looked around the room. Everything was white and ill defined… in some ways it reminded him of his childhood's idea of heaven, with white puffy clouds everywhere. Clustered around the edges of the room stood white robed people, and while he knew they were there, he was just as sure he wouldn't be able to touch them if he wanted to.
"For the sake of convenience, you can call me Gaius," the man said.
"Gaius? That's an old one," a woman said, apparently appearing out of nowhere. Buck had a hard time keeping his eyes off her shapely form, and her long blond hair.
"It seemed appropriate."
"Then he can call me Six." The two smiled at each other, leaving Buck wishing that he got the joke.
"And why do you need me? What am I here for… aside from being punishment for using unidentified meat as a pizza topping last night?"
"We cannot directly interfere," the voice said.
"So, we sometimes encourage others… a very select few, to act on our behalf," Six said. "You are an outsider, in many ways, to all sides, who else could see things clearly enough to find a solution?"
"In more practical terms," Gaius said, "you are here for a history lesson."
"A history lesson? What for?" Buck asked, "I know what happened to my people, the basics, anyway. The Cold war heated up into a nuclear winter. Goodbye Chicago, five hundred years later, say hello to New Chicago."
"With all due respect, Captain, you have no idea what happened," Gaius countered.
"The point is," Six brought the conversation back on track, "all of this has happened before…"
"But does it have to happen again?" Gaius finished.
"It's all part of a never-ending plan, is this the time it finally works out?" Six said.
"I don't understand," Buck said.
"Then let me tell you a story," Gaius said, "it all begins on a cursed planet called Kobol. The planet, which gave birth to so many humans was doomed."
"To escape the fate of their planet," Six continued, there were two great Exoduses, years apart. Thirteen ships in each. Twelve went in one direction, the thirteenth in another… the same happened again during each Exodus. The first group of colonies grew to a great height, and created a cybernetic AI, which eventually rose up against them in rebellion."
"The humans lost, and fled for their lives, seeking out their lost thirteenth colony," Gaius said.
Buck held up his hand for them to stop, "wait, guys, I feel like I've heard this story from Apollo and company, but the Cylons used to be lizards."
"But this isn't their story," Six said, "they came from the Second Exodus."
"So, this other group of colonies, did they find their thirteenth?" Buck asked.
"They found a wasteland wiped out by civil war," Gaius said, "but their story didn't end there."
"They managed to make peace with the Cylon. Some of the Cylon stayed with the humans, here on Earth. and even managed to merge with them," Six said, "That is why the humans from your world are able to interface with cybernetic attachments easily."
"Are there other Cylons out there too?"
"The Cylons who left were led astray by a powerful force. He made a deal, with them. He also made a deal with those lizards you mentioned… and the Cylon cycle began anew, and the robotic Cylon became dominant once more," Gaius said.
"You see," Six said, "All of this has happened before. On Kobol, in the first and second set of colonies, it even happened here."
"What-?
"The question is," Gaius interjected, "if it is going to happen again."
"What does that mean?"
"It means that soon a decision will have to be made," Six said, "As an outsider, removed from the situation; maybe you will be able to find the answer."
"And you can't interfere directly, but you can interfere with me?" Buck said.
"Interfere? We're just telling you a story," Gaius said.
"I have one more question," Buck said.
"Only one?" Gaius asked.
"Why did you say Kobol was cursed?"
"Anyone who returns there will suffer a horrible cost in blood, I believe it goes," Gaius said.
"One set of visitors found a lush green world, but lost their priest, and many other lives. Time passed. A star in a nearby system went nova, sealing the planet away within a massive void. The next set of visitors saw the loss of the information they came seeking, and the death of the Commander's daughter-in-law. What are you prepared to lose, should you choose to visit that world?" Six said.
"What do you mean by that?" Buck stood up to face Gaius and Six directly, except the two of them were nowhere to be found. It was just the room of Light. "Where did you go?" He tried to step forward, but found that his feet were tangled up in his bedsheets. He fell face first, landing on the badly worn 20th century carpet lining his own apartment.
He looked at the bottle in his hand. "I feel like a character in a cartoon." Buck dropped the bottle in his trash can, and wondered how long he would remember the strange dream he just had.